Vodafone Group reported revenues for its fiscal first half up 4.1 percent from a year earlier to GBP 23.5 billion. Organic service revenues were up 1.4 percent year-on-year in the six months to 30 September and grew 1.3 percent in the last three months of the period. Growth was led by the Africa, Middle East and Asia Pacific division, where organic service revenue rose 8.4 percent in the first half. In Europe, the figure was down 1.3 percent, as growth in the UK, Turkey and Netherlands and a stable performance in Germany was offset by lower sales in Spain and Italy. Revenues were also supported by strong demand for data services. Group data revenue was up 23.8 percent year-on-year to GBP 1.3 billion and accounted for 14 percent of service revenue. In Europe, 21.7 percent of customers already have a smartphone. Other targeted growth areas for Vodafone include the enterprise segment, where organic revenues grew 2.6 percent, and the fixed-line market, where revenues improved to GBP 1.80 billion from GBP 1.65 billion a year earlier. Vodafone's customer base grew by nearly 10 million in the last three months to a total 391.365 million at the end of September.
The mobile operator's EBITDA rose 2.3 percent from a year ago to GBP 7.5 billion, while the margin fell 0.6 percentage points year-on-year to 32.0 percent. Adjusted operating profit fell to GBP 6.0 billion from GBP 6.1 billion a year earlier, impacted by the sale of the stake in SFR. The latter boosted EPS to 13.06 pence, but the figure was still down from 14.31 a year ago and included an impairment charge of GBP 450 million on the operations in Greece. Free cash flow for the first half fell to GBP 2.6 billion from GBP 3.5 billion, while capex rose to GBP 2.6 billion from GBP 2.4 billion a year ago. Despite the weak economic outlok, Vodafone said it expects to report full-year adjusted operating profit of GBP 11.4-11.8 billion, at the top of its previous range. It maintained a forecast for annual free cash flow of GBP 6.-6.5 billion, excluding the expected GBP 2.8 billion dividend from Verizon Wireless in January 2012. CEO Vittorio Colao said the company is making good progress with its strategy, growing revenues through data, enterprise and emerging markets, while also monetizing the group's non-controlled assets. Vodafone will pay an interim dividend of 3.05 pence per share, up 7 percent.
